Why is The Lido Called the Lido?

There's no outdoor swimming pool here so why?

The Lido junction in West Ealing has become notorious in recent years as being a dangerous junction, but it's not always been so.

David Highton from West Ealing Neighbours offers some historical background to this part of Ealing, and sheds some light on why it's still known as the Lido.

The Lido Junction is named after the one-time Lido cinema that stood on the site now occupied by the newly built Lido House.

Going back further the 1894 Ordnance Survey Map shows Ealing Cottage Hospital, also known as Ealing Dean Cottage Hospital, on the site. 

In 1913 the West Ealing Kinema was built on the site of the former hospital. It in turn was rebuilt in 1928 as the Lido cinema and retained its name until taken over in the 1970s by the Star Group.

The new owners converted the stalls into a bingo hall  and the circle split and converted in to two cinema theatres.

It was taken over again in the 1980s , this time by the Cannon Group, and renamed Cannon.The bingo hall later closed and  the downstairs area was this time converted into a snooker hall . At the end of the 1990s the cinema was taken over once more and screened 'Bollywood' films firstly under the name Belle Vue and lastly as the Gosai. 

It closed for the last time in 2001 and was demolished in 2004 to make way for the flats and voluntary sector offices now occupying the site.

(with thanks to Keith Spillett - Cinema Treasures)